You may not like Fortnite, but you must respect what Epic Games is doing to fight the “status quo” of the giant monopolies that overcharge for entry into the games. First, to fight 30% relief in the winnings of Steam games for PC, Epic has just created its own game store that only takes a 12% reduction.
Right now? Epic would possibly have made its resolution bolder to date and has developed a formula in which you can purchase V-Bucks Fortnite directly from Epic on Android or iOS, without going through 30% relief on Google and Apple microtransactions on the site.
How do they do it? I have no idea, and if I had to guess, Apple and Google will make a loophole to close this as soon as possible, however, the way it works in practice is quite fun.
Fortnite only tells you that you can spend $10 for 1000 V-Bucks if you need to use Apple Pay, or you can spend $8 if you use “Epic Direct Pay,” which accounts for about 30% of the fee, and some of that savings are transferred directly to the buyer.
Epic is particular that it slaps Apple and Google in the face and demands mourning situations:
“Currently, when Apple and Google payment options, Apple and Google charge a 30% fee, and the value drop of up to 20% doesn’t apply. If Apple or Google lowers your payment rates in the future, Epic will bring you the benefits. “
Apple has recently been pressed in Congress about the 30% cut they are experiencing, but none of that has come out, and there doesn’t seem to be a plan soon to replace that. Epic’s combat with Apple and Google is different from the war on Steam. Although you can create your own game store for PC, you can’t … create your own app store or phone operation formula (well, not yet). We don’t know what Epic thinks he did here to make it “legal” in the App Store, once again, he would expect it to close quite temporarily with some kind of explanation full of jargon. And I’m sure Epic is ready for this, and has some kind of answer or next step planned (I wonder if it’s a precursor to a legal fight). But from now on, you can start with Fortnite and see those “Would you like dear or less loved V-bucks?” live interface now. So buy at a discount while you can.
It’s a pretty wild epic move, and I’m going to chew popcorn while I wait for Apple and Google to respond.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Take my sci-fi novels Herokiller and Herokiller 2, and read my first series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is in audiobook.
I write about video games, television and the Internet.